Chadron State College Athletics

Smith was an outstanding center on several of the Eagles’ great teams in the 1920s. He earned all-conference honors in both 1924 and 1925 and was captain of the undefeated ’25 team that beat the University of Colorado 3-0. Like several of his teammates, he is credited with lettering in football five years.
During the 50-year reunion of the 1925 team, Smith related that when he showed the trophy the Eagles had won for being conference champions to Robert Elliott, the college president remarked, “And, just think, that didn’t cost us a dime.”
“I wanted to hit him over the head with it,” Smith said. “We had sweat blood to win that trophy.”
There’s more to the story about Smith’s contribution to the athletic legacy of Chadron State.
Smith was born in Crawford, but his family moved to Chadron when he was a youth.  He apparently robbed an eagles’ nest and kept one of the eaglets as a pet. As the bird grew, legend has it that he took it to the Chadron State football games. Pretty soon, the bird was adopted as the team’s mascot and people started calling Chadron State “the Eagles.”  
Shortly after graduating from CSC, Smith moved to Grand Junction, Colo., where he established a thriving insurance agency and was a community leader.